[wix-devs] WIXBUG3704 - Allow access to persisted variables from related bundles

Wed May 5 14:22:32 PDT 2021

WIP is at
https://wixtoolset.org/development/wips/4863-thmutil-literal-variables/.
Tests are at
https://github.com/wixtoolset/burn/blob/752f0e0576dc27e937c553ed9dce5576bd388e95/src/test/BurnUnitTest/VariableTest.cpp#L28
.
If you want to know when formatting happens, look in Burn for usages
of VariableFormatString.

On Wed, May 5, 2021 at 3:53 PM Bob Arnson via wix-devs <
wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org> wrote:

> AFAIK, it’s a string that is automatically formatted when retrieved. But
> my memory is fuzzy (generally).
>
> From: Hoover, Jacob <Jacob.Hoover at greenheck.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, 5 May, 2021 13:56
> To: WiX Toolset Developer Mailing List <wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org>;
> Bob Arnson <bob at firegiant.com>
> Cc: Ron Martin <cpuwzd at comcast.net>
> Subject: RE: [wix-devs] WIXBUG3704 - Allow access to persisted variables
> from related bundles
>
> Was hoping Sean would respond on this…  It is my understanding that the
> formatted string is expanded at runtime by the engine, when a variable is
> evaluated.
>
> There is concern that a string variable which is restored as formatted,
> that it could get variable expansion that it would not have, Also if a
> variable was formatted but is restored as a string that it would no longer
> get expansion.
>
> From: wix-devs <wix-devs-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org<mailto:
> wix-devs-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org>> On Behalf Of Ron Martin via
> wix-devs
> Sent: Tuesday, May 4, 2021 2:42 PM
> To: Bob Arnson <bob at firegiant.com<mailto:bob at firegiant.com>>; WiX Toolset
> Developer Mailing List <wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org<mailto:
> wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org>>
> Cc: Ron Martin <cpuwzd at comcast.net<mailto:cpuwzd at comcast.net>>
> Subject: Re: [wix-devs] WIXBUG3704 - Allow access to persisted variables
> from related bundles
>
> In what context is BURN_VARIANT_TYPE_FORMATTED expanded? Would it be
> stored in one context and
> interpreted in another? What can change in the context between creation
> and use?
>
> I'm just trying to get my head around the real issues.
>
> Ron
>
> On 5/4/2021 3:17 PM, Bob Arnson wrote:
> > BAs already have to specify a type when getting a variable value from
> the engine. The engine knows a variable's type when it persists the value
> -- so what if it required a variable to exist so it had the type when
> reading it? At that point, the registry type could be REG_SZ for
> everything, no encoding necessary.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: wix-devs <wix-devs-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org<mailto:
> wix-devs-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org>> On Behalf Of Rob Mensching via
> wix-devs
> > Sent: Tuesday, 4 May, 2021 14:13
> > To: WiX Toolset Developer Mailing List <wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org
> <mailto:wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org>>; Ron Martin <cpuwzd at comcast.net
> <mailto:cpuwzd at comcast.net>>
> > Cc: Rob Mensching <rob at firegiant.com<mailto:rob at firegiant.com>>
> > Subject: Re: [wix-devs] WIXBUG3704 - Allow access to persisted variables
> from related bundles
> >
> > Sorry, I mentioned encoding the values in a string the way the Windows
> Installer does in the Registry table to include it as an option. I do not
> have a strong opinion that it is the best way to go (although encoding in
> JSON or XML seems way overkill). Trying to reuse the built-in registry
> types is noble if you can resolve all the issues Sean was discussing.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: wix-devs <wix-devs-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org<mailto:
> wix-devs-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org>> On Behalf Of Hoover, Jacob via
> wix-devs
> > Sent: Tuesday, May 4, 2021 10:02 AM
> > To: Ron Martin <cpuwzd at comcast.net<mailto:cpuwzd at comcast.net>>;
> wix-devs <wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org<mailto:
> wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org>>
> > Cc: Hoover, Jacob <Jacob.Hoover at greenheck.com<mailto:
> Jacob.Hoover at greenheck.com>>
> > Subject: Re: [wix-devs] WIXBUG3704 - Allow access to persisted variables
> from related bundles
> >
> > Unrecognized types? The engine only supports a fixed set of types.
> Extensions can’t define additional variable types.
> >
> > “Much easier” is an opinion.
> >
> > If we really want to go the string route, why not use a JSON object in
> the registry? We could then define it’s type and value, still live as a
> string, and have a well defined structure to validate against.
> >
> > From: Ron Martin <cpuwzd at comcast.net<mailto:cpuwzd at comcast.net>>
> > Sent: Tuesday, May 4, 2021 11:51 AM
> > To: Hoover, Jacob <Jacob.Hoover at greenheck.com<mailto:
> Jacob.Hoover at greenheck.com>>; wix-devs <wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org
> <mailto:wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org>>
> > Subject: Re: [wix-devs] WIXBUG3704 - Allow access to persisted variables
> from related bundles
> >
> >
> > Some of the things I thought about before making my suggestion:
> >
> > If all of the strings we store in the registry (in this context) are
> differentiated by their first character, many new types can be added later
> if necessary. A single switch statement can be used to separate the type.
> Unrecognized types can be passed through extensions.
> >
> > The registry was not designed for flexibility or extensibility. Binary
> data can be organized for straight-forward decoding, just as string data,
> but for debugging purposes, it is much easier to decode strings than raw
> binary representation of multiple data structures.
> >
> > Registry strings should not be used to store binary data in its raw form
> because there is a potential for truncation when a null character is
> encountered. Registry strings are constrained to UTF-16 with no encoding
> prefix.
> >
> > Ron
> > On 5/4/2021 11:27 AM, Hoover, Jacob wrote:
> > easier to handle.
> >
> > From: wix-devs <wix-devs-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org<mailto:
> wix-devs-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org>><mailto:
> wix-devs-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org> On Behalf Of Ron Martin via
> wix-devs
> > Sent: Friday, April 30, 2021 2:49 PM
> > To: wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org<mailto:wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org
> <mailto:wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org%
> 3cmailto:wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org>>
> > Cc: Ron Martin <cpuwzd at comcast.net<mailto:cpuwzd at comcast.net>><mailto:
> cpuwzd at comcast.net>
> > Subject: Re: [wix-devs] WIXBUG3704 - Allow access to persisted variables
> from related bundles
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